Holocaust Museum in DC

Last winter I took a mini-break to Washington D.C. I have been twice before; once as a teenager and once with friends in 2000. I didn’t remember much so it was time for another visit.

Fortunately a great deal was found at Washington Plaza Hotel. I loved the view of the pool (that was too cold to use) and how close it was to things -> walking or by subway.

A friend who lives in DC recomends the Holocaust Museum. It is fairly new and supposed to be real informative. He did not lie. It was a very powerful exhibit of a dark time in human history.

When you enter the museum you take on a persona but you do not yet know if they are a victim or a survivor. You carry their story with you throughout the exhibit.

I was disappointed to learn how the United States failed the refugees. It is clear we could have done more to help but we didn’t.

Names of those who died are all along the windows.

What was most disturbing is reading how the history was laid out. Hitler and the holocaust didn’t just happen overnight. It happened slowly bit by bit. Little changes that eroded freedoms and livelihood of people. So many times where people could have stood up and say no; but not enough did because they thought there was no way it could get that bad. It is a lesson to all of us. Always stand up for injustices no matter how small people think they are.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

My aunt visited me in town for Thanksgiving and she really wanted to go see the Macy’s parade. I have seen it once before but not loving crowds I had little desire to go.
However I noticed a friend who is a Macy’s employee had extra tickets for stadium seating. I didn’t have to stand up the whole time? Sign me up. One catch, it will be the coldest parade on record.
We meet at 3:30 AM to get in line for the stadium seating. There are already many people in line. We try our best to keep warm.

We end up right up front at the beginning of the parade.  It is lots of sitting and waiting and we are very cold. Our blankets and hand warmers are not enough. We might die out there. We watch them rehearse and tape the beginning of the parade

And as the sun comes up it gets even colder.

Luckily the parade starts. We hear all the announcements as the balloons line up.

We didn’t get to see any celebrities perform but we did see them go by in their floats.
Here is Diana Ross.

And then we reached the end and Santa. Despite the cold, the whole experience was a treat and we had a great time.

Hunter Mountain and Woodstock

I was invited to stay in my friend’s cabin in Hunter Mountain on the weekend that coincidentally was my birthday weekend. Her cabin was so cozy and with the snow I had a chance to try out my car’s brand new tires (birthday present to myself – our presents tend to be more practical as I get older).

View of Hunter mountain
Well stocked fridge with booze, snacks and desserts

We were hanging with musicians so our evenings were full of live music as well as lots of game time.

During the day we did a snow hike. I brought my poles but was too lazy to put on my yaktrax. I sort of regretted that decision but I survived. We had a great view of the almost frozen Kaaterskill Falls.

Our our way home we stopped at Woodstock. It is a charming little town that gets to capitalize on its hippie past.

We ate a very good vegan resturant.

Peru 2018! Amazon Day 2

Day 2 in the amazon and my cold still won’t give up. I can’t miss out on the days activities so I take some medicine and go out. Today it is a boat ride to a nature walk to a lake where we do some fishing.

During one of our hikes we finally see a sloth. He is way up there hanging out.

Through the binoculars

We go on a boat ride to do some fishing. We see some birds, butterflies, and otters during our commute.

A piranha is what you will find. We are getting a demonstration of those teeth.

The women on the boat trip tend to be the excellent fishermen. This is me with my catch.

The chef cooks up our fish to enjoy. Not much meat but most of the fish is edible. It is like a crunchy snack.

Later in the day we do a hike to see the tree canopy from the fire tower. It is so peaceful from the top.

What breath taking views!!

Lastly before bed we do one more boat tour to see caiman (the amazon version of the alligator/crocodile). They are just sitting around and being lazy. I am sort of jealous.

This is pretty much the end of my trip. I start feeling progressively worse during the trip back (long boat ride, mini-bus ride, and flight back to Lima).

Once I got to Lima things got progressively worse. I tried to get some medicine but pharmacists weren’t very help. I think they ended up giving me a random antibiotic but only two of them. Plus my eyes was starting to get swollen and difficult to open. I was wondering how I was going to navigate the airport the next day if I was blind as well.

Last meal that was very difficult to eat.

Fortunately I was able to get home again but it took me about 4 weeks to finally beat this cold that I picked up. Oh what we will go through to travel!!!